“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin as the character “The Captain” in “Cool Hand Luke.”

The term “low-information voter” has become an important phrase in current events lexicon. We’ve seen what a political car crash such voters can cause electorally in recent months. This morning, a motorized version of “low-information voting” is playing out at the Rio Bravo Blvd. closure at the train tracks alongside 2nd Street.

The closure began this morning and I, a South Valley cyclist who has long dreamt of Rio Bravo being closed to vehicular traffic, couldn’t miss it. First and foremost, the County/NMDOT has done a very good job, imho, of notifying folks about this closure. Gregory Hasman as the Journal’s “Road Warrior” mentioned it. It was in all the local “legacy media.”

And my trip out there this morning illustrated that many folks got that message and chose alternate routes. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

Apologies for the poor photo quality and blinding sun.

While eastbound Rio Bravo traffic was backed up all the way past the River to Isleta Blvd. (a distance of right at a mile and a quarter), things were at least moving and as of this writing at 8:30 A.M. it looks from Google Traffic that the biggest backup right now is up 2nd Street from all the drivers forced to take it up to Woodward before turning east toward I-25.

The County is commended for getting the word out.

Regarding “low-information voters,” one thing I noticed out there this morning is that, in addition to many folks evidently having gotten the news and changed routes, those drivers still trying to drive Rio Bravo more preponderently seemed to be members of the group we’ll simply refer to as “jerk drivers.” Your term may vary and may very well include words that are not appropriate in a family publication.

Yes, “asshole” is one of many such words doubtlessly used by some to describe these drivers.

Not everybody was a jerk. I did see one driver in a souped-up green Dodge Charger or some such snake through the barricades westbound at the tracks to continue their jerky jerk drive to wherever the jerk was going. Construction folks just moved another set of orange barrels to the small opening jerkface violated.

It’s all supposed to be back to normal, better track-crossing included, by Monday. My dream of a permanently closed to vehicular traffic Rio Bravo Pedestrian Mall remains unfulfilled.